1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to architectural finish elements and supporting apparatus therefor, and more particularly to architectural finish elements that employ real rock configured in a lightweight panel form. The invention also relates to apparatus for supporting architectural finish panels including the type that employ real rock configured in a lightweight panel form.
2. Description of Related Art
Various architectural finish elements have been used over the years to clad architectural structures such as buildings. Some of these architectural finish elements involve individual stone elements, individually secured to the architectural structure. Installation of this type of element is time-consuming, and such elements can be susceptible to release from the surface due to thermal expansion and contraction, which can loosen mortar adhesion systems that secure such elements to an architectural structure for example. Further, such individually secured stone elements are often joined by mortar joints having thicknesses of about ⅜ inches or more, and such mortar joints may have an undesirable appearance.
Some inventors have overcome the mortar adhesion problem by cutting grooves into the individual stone elements and using a support clip that cooperates with the groove to support the individual stone element, but this tends to secure the stone elements rather rigidly to the surface of the architectural structure, which can still be a problem due to wind loading and seismic loading. Forces due to these conditions can result in displacement of the individual stone elements from the clips, resulting in release of one of more of the stone elements from the structure.
The appearance of dry-stacked individual stone elements (i.e. where there are no readily apparent joint lines between adjacent stone elements) is a highly desirable and attractive finish and is generally achieved only by actually dry stacking individual stone elements. Generally, individual stone elements are not aggregated together into unitary collections to form an architectural finish element because the stone elements themselves are generally relatively heavy such that any unitary collection of stone elements is generally too heavy to be lifted by a single person and would be too heavy to meet many building codes. To reduce weight, individual stone elements may sometimes be secured to a foam backing for example, but the foam can deform over time if subjected to point loading and can be susceptible to ultraviolet radiation degradation and can present challenges for fire proofing.
Artificially formed surfaces comprised of concrete painted and molded to look like a dry-stacked arrangement of individual stone elements have been used on foam to form building blocks but are still too heavy and therefore not suitable for cladding a building. Patio and walkway surfaces have been paved by masonry panels comprising a reinforced series of masonry elements such as stone or brick pavers bound together by a cement or mortar-like material, but these too are too heavy for cladding an architectural structure.